1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to percussion instruments in general and more particularly to an acoustic drum having at least one acoustic air vent hole.
2. Description of Related Art
When a drum is struck, the drumhead is depressed inwardly and forces a column of air down the length of the drum and causes the drumhead on the opposite side to balloon outwardly. If the drum is air tight, the top and bottom heads will oscillate for a relatively long time as the air within the drum oscillates back and forth and feeds energy to the heads to keep the oscillation going. Long oscillation time produces a long sustain which is desirable at slow tempos; however, at faster tempos the oscillation can hamper performance.
For example, oscillation of a drum is analogous to oscillation of a trampoline. If one times his/her jumps to the oscillation of the trampoline, the trampoline will help the jumper maintain a rhythm. However, if one's timing if off, the trampoline will stop. An analogous event happens when one plays a drum. For example, if one plays a drum in phase with the moving drumhead the playing action will feel normal but when one get out of phase with the drumhead, which is very easy to do especially when playing fast and/or when playing intricate patterns, the drumhead can randomly feel dead and stifle rebound and negatively impact your performance.
Air vents allow the air to escape from the drum and return the heads to their resting state quickly thus providing an essentially flat and predictable playing surface on which to play for improved confidence, speed, and intricacy.
Companies typically choose the air vent locations for drums based on cosmetics considerations instead of science or sound. Some attempts have been made to attenuate the movement of air through vent holes by adjusting the size of the vent hole or by using an adjustable valve on the vent hole. However, no prior art is known to exist that enhances drum performance based on air vent location.